Música Temprana is a pioneering music school in Valencia, Spain, specializing in the Suzuki Method. This school has over 35 years of teaching experience and has served more than 1,500 students. It is one of the first institutions in the Valencian Community to apply the Suzuki Method, making it a significant center for music education in the region.
The school offers classes in instruments such as violin, piano, flute, and guitar, as well as early music education for children. Its philosophy focuses not only on developing musical skills but also on fostering values like perseverance, empathy, and teamwork.
Founded by Jesús Garcia and Concha Morató, two Valencian musicians trained in traditional methods who were inspired by the Suzuki approach, Música Temprana seeks to create an alternative to competitive music education models. The school has gained recognition for its community impact, with former students returning as parents to enroll their own children, creating a multi-generational musical community. It also engages in public performances, such as concerts at the Salón de Cristales in Valencia’s City Hall, where students as young as 5 years old perform a diverse repertoire.
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The Camerata of the Lisbon Music Academy is a string orchestra made up of young musicians aged 14 to 18, carefully selected from among the students of the Lisbon Music Academy. Founded in 2007, it has been musically directed by Rui Fernandes, Roberto Valdés, Rui Pinheiro, Pedro Ramos, Filipa Poêjo, Pedro Neves, and, since September 2022, Alexandre Delgado. This orchestra regularly performs in some of Portugal’s main concert halls, such as the CCB, the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Auditorium of the Oriente Museum, Ajuda Palace, Foz Palace, among others. On the international stage, the Camerata has toured Norway, Switzerland, Scotland, Italy and Spain, and regularly participates in exchange programs: in 2015 with the Orquesta Promusica (Málaga, Spain), in 2016 with Barrat Due’s Junior Orchestra (Oslo, Norway), in 2017 with the Jugend Sinfonieorchester Zürich (Zurich, Switzerland), and in 2018 with the Dublin Youth Orchestra (Republic of Ireland) and the Trondheim Junior Soloists (Trondheim, Norway). Its repertoire includes works from all eras and musical styles, including several world premieres
The Orchestra Os Violinhos has developed into one of the Portuguese finest youth musical ensembles. Founded in 2003, it is comprised of 30 violinists, from 7 to 17 years old, selected from over 200 students of the Lisbon Music Academy, recognised as one of the most prestigious violin schools in Portugal. Audiences around the world have responded enthusiastically to programming that combines the energy, virtuosity and enthusiasm that one can only find on such a group of very gifted and talented young violinists. Os Violinhos have been broadcast on national television shows, performed in the major Portuguese concert venues, and are the subject of many articles and reports in newspapers and magazines. As part of a close cultural exchange with the Betty Haag Academy, in Chicago (USA), they have presented concerts with The Magical Strings of Youth in Lisbon, in Camões Theatre, and at the renowned Orchestra Hall of the Chicago Symphony Center. Os Violinhos tour regularly in Portugal and abroad, having performed extensively in many European countries, including Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, and United Kingdom. Individually, the violinists of this orchestra have won all the major national and international violin competitions held in Portugal and Spain, and have been awarded more than 200 prizes, including 60 first prizes.
Alexandre Delgado studied at the Fundação Musical dos Amigos das Crianças, in Lisbon. ln composition he was a private pupil of Joly Braga Santos (1924-1988) and studied in France in the class of Jacques Charpentier, graduating with the 1st Award of the Nice Conservatoire in 1990. His production includes specially chamber music (String Quartet, Burlesca, Langará, The Panic Flirt), concertos (Flute Concerto, Viola Concerto) and vocal and dramatic music (Turbilhão, Poema de Deus e do Diabo, O Doido e a Morte). His chamber opera O Doido e a Morte (Death and the Madman, 1993) was premiered in Lisbon at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos and in Berlim at the Theater Am Halleschen Ufer, under his direction. His works have been chosen for some of the World Music Days and he received several comissions from international music festivals.
As a viola player, he won the Jovens Músicos Award in 1987, premiered as a soloist his Viola Concerto in Portugal, Spain and Holland and is a member of the Quarteto Lacerda and of the Moscow Piano Quartet.
Artistic Director of the Alcobaça Music Festival since 2002, he is author of the program A Propósito da Música, broadcasted since 1996 by the national radio (Antena 2). He is regularly invited as a conferencist and concerts comentator by the main musical institu-tions of Portugal and his books The Symphony in Portugal and A Culpa é do Maestro (Crítica Musical 1990/2000) were published by Caminho. He organized in 2005 the Festival Luís de Freitas Branco and he was editor and co-author of the book Luís de Freitas Branco, relayed in May 2007 by the sarne publisher.
Born in Lisbon, Filipa Poêjo obtained her Master of Music Degree at the Northwestern University, in Chicago (USA), having been awarded scholarships from the Portuguese Government and from the Northwestern University School of Music. While in Chicago, Filipa Poêjo specialized in Suzuki Pedagogy under the supervision of one of the most distinguished violin pedagogues of the present times, Betty Haag. Under the recommendation of this pedagogue, with who she still maintains a close professional collaboration, Filipa also taught at the Talent Music Institute of Des Plaines, in Chicago.
Back in Portugal, she began to teach intensively and established the Orchestra Os Violinhos in 2003, assuming its Musical Direction since then. She regularly appears in public with Os Violinhos, having performed hundreds of concerts in her home country, Austria, Czechia, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States.
She has performed with the most distinguished Portuguese orchestras, including National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Nova Filarmonia Portuguesa, Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, Gulbenkian Orchestra and the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra.
She performed in several music festivals, with prominence to the Spoleto International Festival (Italy), as a member of the Orquesta Sinfónica di Festival dei Due Mondi.
Filipa Poêjo is currently Violin Professor at the Lisbon Music Academy, and her violin students have been awarded first prizes in the main national and international violin competitions, in Portugal and Spain.
Born in Lisbon, Rui Fernandes received a scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Luso-American Foundation for Development and the Northwestern University (USA), where he studied with Gerardo Ribeiro, having obtained a Master’s degree and a Performance Certificate.
Still in the United States, he studied Pedagogy, with a special focus on Suzuki methodology, with Betty Haag. He was a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the American String Teachers Association. Between 1995 and 1997, he worked at the Talent Music Institute of Des Plaines as Assistant of Professor Gerardo Ribeiro at Northwestern University School of Music.
Rui Fernandes was awarded in the violin competitions of the Portuguese Musical Youth and in the Young Musician Award, intermediate and higher level. He also won the Audience Award “Major Blythe Award” at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival.
Rui Fernandes regularly collaborates with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, with which he has toured, and performs with numerous orchestras and at various music festivals across Europe, Asia, Africa and America. He has worked with Maestros such as Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Brüggen, Kent Nagano, Leonard Slatkin, Pierre Boulez, Pinchas Zukerman, Rudolph Barshai, Shlomo Mintz, Sir Georg Solti, Zubin Mehta, among others.
Rui Fernandes taught violin and violet at the Lisbon Academy of Music from 2004 to 2014. His students have been awarded on more than 50 occasions, having won the main national and international competitions held in Portugal.
Rui Fernandes is the Director of the Lisbon Music Academy and Artistic Director of Lisbon Music Fest.
The Montreal Suzuki String Orchestra (MSSO) from Canada, led by violinist Dragan Djerkic, has welcomed nearly 1000 students since in 1990, including some who have gone on to pursue careers as soloists performing with major orchestras worldwide. It is distinguished as a uniquely, non-audition-based, dynamic ensemble specifically created to give opportunities to all young musicians. One of two youth orchestras within the violin school Institut Suzuki (Montreal), the ensemble performs concerts bi-annually in Montreal’s historic Oscar Peterson Concert Hall. In linguistically diverse Montreal, with its rich tapestry of jazz, classical and ethnic festivals, music remains its universal language. In addition to the timeless music of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, the MSSO also entertains audiences with gypsy folk music, Argentinian tangos, and even modern compositions from Philip Glass and Montreal native, Leonard Cohen. In a rapidly evolving world, MSSO’s young musicians are discovering their niche as global ambassadors and realizing their full potential. They appreciate that travel can expand their worldview and how music can help strangers become friends. Global cultural exchanges, such as the Summa Cum Laude festival, enable all young people to cooperate and achieve new heights, both as individuals and as a community.
Conductor Dragan Djerkic is passionate about youth orchestras. As a young immigrant from Serbia, Dragan studied with violinist Mauricio Fuks at McGill University in Montreal. After graduation, he taught at the McGill Conservatory of Music until opening his own violin school, Institut Suzuki, with Vera Mirkovic in 1984 and founding the Montreal Suzuki String Orchestra in 1990. Dragan was inspired by Japanese violinist, educator and humanitarian Dr. Shinichi Suzuki , and his teachings on how children learn to experience beauty and music.
Dragan blended his own virtuosity developed at McGill with his passion and gift of teaching. Since 1988, thousands of young people have been drawn to Suzuki Institute, building a beautiful world, one bow at a time. In 2016, Dragan combined his love of music and travel to lead his first international tour. Under the auspices of the League of Astonishing Strings, his Performance Ensemble of Canada blended Quebec’s MSSO with performers from Ontario’s leading music and dance academies. During a ten-day tour in China, they performed in national concert halls in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Xuzhou.
The Abbotsford Youth Orchestra (AYO) from Canada, directed by Dr. Calvin Dyck, was created in 2000. This auditioned group of string players has performed in various settings, including at parades and concerts, recording sessions, and have won prizes at music festivals. Repertoire includes classical, fiddle, Broadway, and folk music.
The AYO consists of three groups: Junior Orchestra (RCM Grade 2 to 4), Intermediate Orchestra (RCM Grade 5 and up), and Senior Orchestra (RCM Grade 7 and up).
Dr. Calvin Dyck started his musical training on the accordion at age 5. His violin training began when he was 8 years old. Following the completion of his A.R.C.T. in 1981 he went on to study at Biola University and the University of Southern California where, in 1991, he received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Violin Performance. He has traveled around the world with various musical ensembles and enjoys a wide variety of engagements, films and recording sessions.
Currently Calvin is the Concertmaster of the Vancouver Island Symphony in Nanaimo, Canada. Calvin has taught at Scripps College and Biola University in California, and at Kwantlen College and Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada. Calvin has released four recordings: Meditation, This Shining Night, One Small Child, and The Dancing Violin.
